Splinters of cut hair embedded under the nail plate is an infrequent occupational skin disease in addition to contact dermatitis and interdigital sinuses or trichogranulomas in professional hairdressers. We have found a few reports of onycholysis in beauticians caused by subungual hair penetration and a single case of subungual trichogranuloma due to the introduction of hairs beneath the nail plate in a hairdresser with psoriatic onycholysis. We have recently studied the case of a hairdresser in whom cut hairs became imbedded subungually without causing onycholysis. A 35-year-old man had worked as a barber since the age of eighteen. Examination revealed thin, dark, longitudinal striations on the distal third of the nail of the middle finger. Microscopic examination of scales, obtained by scraping of the nail bed and treatment with 40% potassium hydroxide, showed hair fragments.
